The Star Spangled Banner, like you’ve never heard it

The original Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the song that would become our national anthem, is among the most treasured artifacts in the collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Quick Facts about the Star-Spangled Banner Flag:

Made in Baltimore, Maryland, in July-August 1813 by flagmaker Mary Pickersgill

Commissioned by Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry

Original size: 30 feet by 42 feet

Current size: 30 feet by 34 feet

Fifteen stars and fifteen stripes (one star has been cut out)

Raised over Fort McHenry on the morning of September 14, 1814, to signal American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore; the sight inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner”

Preserved by the Armistead family as a memento of the battle

First loaned to the Smithsonian Institution in 1907; converted to permanent gift in 1912